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12 A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO

Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (PBCS)

ORACLE TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT: BRIDGING

LOGISTICS SILOS, AUTOMATING PLANNING AND EXECUTION

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BUDGETING

A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO

Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (PBCS)PATRICK CALLAHAN, AST CORPORATION

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TION

ANALYSIS

This article will explain the Oracle PBCS solution, highlight the features and provide recommendations for implementing.

Overview of PBCSOracle PBCS is a subscription-based planning and budgeting solution built for and deployed on Oracle Cloud, using a proven, flexible planning and reporting best-in-class architecture. It offers immediate value and greater productivity for business planners, analysts, modelers and decision makers across all lines of business of an enterprise. PBCS is built to scale and perform, using industry-standard Oracle Cloud infrastructure.

Key highlights include:• Most Complete

Broad: spans Oracle’s application and platform portfolio. Best-in-class: based on Oracle’s industry-leading cloud products. Integrated: built on a common, unified platform.

• Most Flexible and Modern Standards-based: built on industry standards: Java, SQL, HTML5, Web. Extensible: build and deploy new apps or extend existing apps. Portable: migrate apps to and from on-premises.

• Enterprise-Grade Secure: strict controls and policies to ensure data protection. Elastic: self-service, capacity on-demand with monthly subscription. Managed: fully automated operations and management.

Overall, the solution is robust with the industry-leading Hyperion Planning base, solid workflow and integration options, and a user experience that extends nicely for mobile (tablet) use (Figure 1).

Oracle’s Planning & Budgeting Cloud Service (PBCS) rolled out early last year and has truly changed the deployment options for Hyperion Planning for many customers. Directed to the new Oracle Hyperion Planning customer, PBCS is an obvious option with simpler data integration options, yet nearly the same robust functionality of core Hyperion Planning. Sure, there are minor differences and some limitations, but it’s worth a look.

This article appeared in the summer 2016 issue of OAUG Insight

magazine, the official publication of the Oracle Applications Users

Group (OAUG), and is reprinted with permission.

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Why Consider the Cloud?Oracle’s EPM Cloud usage has sky-rocketed since it was released, and this aligns with the findings outlined in Oracle’s “EPM Top Trends for 2015” report. This report highlights that EPM Cloud user base, including PBCS, is nearly doubling in size each year (12 percent in 2014, then 22 percent in 2015). This has been driven by the user community being comfortable with its success as a SaaS solution, along with some existing customers moving to PBCS instead of upgrading.

Other reasons for this growth and expansion of the PBCS user base align with those more common to SaaS solutions. The same Oracle report finds that 65 percent of respondents are persuaded by the ability to get up and running quickly— an obvious benefit without the need of new infrastructure and IT support to set it up. Moreover, 53 percent of respondents are motivated to avoid large, upfront investments. Either driven by shrinking budgets themselves or the sometimes enormity of procuring Hyperion Planning licenses, the PBCS subscription model significantly reduces the year-one costs. As such, considering PBCS is a must.

The Trade-Offs of the Cloud and PBCSThe cloud and PBCS are not for everyone. Sometimes, security requirements, integration models or the size of architected solutions make PBCS an inadequate option. Until Oracle releases the “Enterprise” PBCS pre-built solutions, the availability of those existing solutions within

on-premises or hosted deployments may outweigh the pros of PBCS. Here is how we assess the cloud and PBCS:

First, the “Good”:• Lower operational expense.• Limited infrastructure overhead.• Lower short-term TCO.• Faster implementation.• Potential for increased innovation.• Upgrades managed by SaaS provider.

Then, the “Bad”:• Loss of control.• Security and compliance concerns.• Longer-term TCO uncertain.• Integration with other systems.• Frequent automatic upgrades.

You can see that some topics, like upgrades, are on both lists and truly are in the eye of the beholder—some folks like control, while others prefer ease of mind.

Oracle PBCS: Built from the Foundational Hyperion PlanningFirst, Oracle PBCS is Hyperion Planning at its core, so you benefit from having nearly the same robust features and functionality as the on-premises software. These include:

Figure 1

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• Best-practice planning, budgeting and forecasting capabilities.

• Spreadsheet-like interactivity with larger data sets. Rapid loading of large forms. Quick cell-to-cell navigation and scrolling. Support for shortcuts. Auto-calculations. Sandboxing. Excel-like formulas.

• End users able to extend the model. • Add a member on the fly. • Embedded Advanced Predictive Planning.• Time-series forecasting with even more history.• Microsoft Office support and integration.

The Oracle Hyperion solutions have been industry-leading for some time and regular Gartner “Magic Quadrant” members for Corporate Performance Management (Oracle

calls it Enterprise Performance Management, or EPM). Part of Oracle’s strength in this position is in fact the viability and success of Oracle PBCS.

Getting Started with PBCSOracle makes is incredibly easy to get started. You can easily go through your Oracle sales representation (recommended) to purchase subscriptions or buy online at the Oracle Store.

Here is a good place to start (Figure 2): http://docs.oracle.com/cloud/latest/pbcs_common/index.html

The “Getting Started” content is shown here, with links for learning about PBCS, obtaining trial subscriptions and the initial steps of getting your PBCS environments up and running. Overall, you will find the amount of online documentation and other content for Oracle PBCS is tremendous and far superior to any of the on-premises options.

Figure 2

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Your access to environments, after your subscriptions have been processed, is typically just a few days. It is great to “jump in” to Hyperion Planning, especially if you’re used to the “old” way of cumbersome installs and base configurations. What you get with PBCS is the following:• The Planning application itself.

This includes two (2) environments (i.e. PROD and TEST).

• All hardware infrastructure to run the application. You don’t see it or have direct access, but it’s obviously there, supporting your application.

• Regular patches and upgrades. Administrators decide timing within prescribed windows.

• Nightly backups.• Guaranteed performance.• Support is included.

It is important to note that there are pre-requisites for PBCS, however, there are not many. As a Web-based application,

it primarily relies on the browser. Still, the Calculation Manager and Smart View components do rely on and require compatibility for Shockwave Flash (Firefox) or Adobe Flash Player and Microsoft Office.

The supported browsers are:• Firefox ESR 38+.• Internet Explorer 11.• Google Chrome 29 and later.• Apple Safari 6 and later.

Also note that only Google Chrome (on Android mobile devices) and Apple Safari (on iPads and iPhones) are supported for mobile devices.

For Smart View (Release 11.1.2.5.500 or newer), you need Microsoft Office 2007/2010/2013 and .NET Framework 4.0. For Calculation Manager, Shockwave Flash (Firefox) or Adobe Flash Player (Internet Explorer) is needed. Otherwise, you really just need Internet bandwidth.

Figure 3

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De-Constructing PBCSIn an effort to explain what comprises the PBCS solution, I wanted to touch on a handful of core components.

First, there are “Application Wizards” that make creating a Planning application about as easy as possible. The wizard takes you through the core configuration steps, asking questions on how the application will be used, and offering you additional options on how the application should be set up. With the first screen, you can choose to install the sample application or one of your own with these options:• Simple: Basic applications with one (1) Hyperion Planning

plan type (e.g. dimensional model).• Advanced: More complex applications with multiple

plan types.

Next, a critical change is the fact that there are user-interface options. Aside from the “Classic Workspace” look and feel that we are all used to within Hyperion Planning, Oracle released a new “Simplified Interface,” specifically optimized for mobile or tablet use.

Figure 3 presents a screenshot of the Task Lists within the new “Simplified Interface”—a much cleaner and simpler view into the Planning application and solution features.

This “Simplified Interface” will soon become the standard (and only option) for Oracle in the cloud.

As highlighted above, and aside from the new “Simplified Interface,” much of the core (and robust) Hyperion Planning functionality remains.

You do have the ability to create complex Web (data) forms for centralized data capture that helps eliminate spreadsheets. Features include inherent data entry features for “spreading” changes, locking data, adding commentary, capturing supporting detail, attaching files to cells and applying validation rules, all the while enforcing data security (Figure 4).

As has been the case in more recent versions of Hyperion Planning, you have the ability to create impressive dashboard-type Web forms with charts, tables and other graphics to be available on both mobile and desktop (Figure 5).

Figure 4

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Figure 5

Figure 6

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Moreover, there is a powerful feature for administrators to author Web forms via the new interface and save them as a functioning Financial Reporting report. This feature is not perfect but definitely a nice, new way to transition from a well-received Web form by users to a well-received report.

Data security is still driven by “planning units” against the Entity dimension, but the setting of “user variables” has changed. A simple settings menu for “user variables” allows you to specify/change what data you are looking at, again, applying data security appropriately (Figure 6).

For each user variable, the selection of desired “members” is not too dissimilar to the interface in the “classic” view. I think this is definitely an area for improvement for PBCS.

The workflow and approval process also has not changed significantly, other than the “simplified interface” look and feel (Figure 7). It remains best practices-based and offers a visualized approvals process with workflow status dashboards that really do help manage progress against your budgeting (and budget cycle) deadlines. You will see the steps of the approval workflow and their ownership, along with a graphical representation of the status.

For reporting, you continue to leverage Financial Reporting Studio or FR. Interestingly, we see our customers and end users essentially use Web (data) forms for analysis and reporting (their words), others primarily use Smart View (Figure 8), and some embrace FR. Financial Reporting Studio is soon to be transformed into a lighter cloud solution, but until then, we essentially have the same options.

With regard to Smart View, you can further utilize this great tool to manage dimension members. To do so, you must connect to the

Figure 7

Figure 8

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Planning server, open the dimension and begin adding or updating members and properties as seen to the right. What a nice option to have.

Integrating DataAgain, the data integration model changes a bit with PBCS, as the data needs to be moved into the cloud. This is primarily done with files, whereby they are produced and transported via FTP. REST APIs do exist and are being leveraged more and more, but the core approach is to use files.

Yes, FDMEE exists for PBCS, but I would call it a “lite” version. Pre-built adapters and ERP Integrator are not available, but the data mapping facilities of FDMEE are still quite helpful, and “drill-through” into your ERP can be configured (Figure 9).

Here are the steps for setting up FDMEE in PBCS: 1. Set up the source and target systems.2. Create an import format.3. Define the location, period and category.4. Set up the data load mappings.5. Create and execute a data load rule to import and validate

the source data.6. Export the data to Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud.

Then, in the PBCS target app, you must verify that the data was loaded and that you can drill through to the source system (if configured).

Additionally, it is likely that you will want to automate the data loads. For this, Oracle has provided a File Transfer Utility (EPMCopy.exe). Upon installation, you can easily create a batch file that contains an EPMCopy command to load data into your Oracle PBCS target application (Figure 10).

Reviewing the PBCS SolutionWe’ve seen several customers implement PBCS, and we truly see the value, but we also see where it may not be the right fit.

The advantages are numerous. Here are a few we see:• Many online training videos and tutorials.• Helpful, guided application demos.• Many wizards for setting up applications and

underlying functionality.• Best practices for Planning are built in.• Built-In performance and validation tools.• Choice of Oracle data center. • Ability to “lift and shift” current Planning applications to

the cloud. Uses common LCM migration facilities.

• New functionality first. Oracle’s “Cloud First” strategy.

• Reduced reliance on IT and internal infrastructure.

Figure 10

Figure 9

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Indeed, there are limitations to be aware of. Here are a few to consider:• Only one application is supported per subscription.

The application can contain up to three block storage (BSO) plan types (cube models) and up to four ASO (aggregate) cubes.

Each additional application requires an additional subscription.

• The file system is currently limited to 150GB. Includes space for your Essbase database, reports and any exported Life Cycle Management content.

• EPM Architect (EPMA) is not supported (Classic Mode only).

• Data is loaded via flat file using FTP.• Pre-built Hyperion modules are not currently supported.

(“Enterprise PBCS” options are coming soon.)

Moving to Oracle PBCSUltimately, if you are considering Oracle PBCS, you are either targeting a new implementation or a migration from on-premises (or hosted) to the cloud. Oracle calls this a “lift and shift.”

Here are some of the highlights and considerations of a New Implementation:• Eliminate the normal start-up activities:

Hardware procurement and setup. Software procurement, install and base configurations.

• Access is provided in days with new subscription.• Leverage new application wizard and configure

applications.• Focus on data and FDMEE up front, then functionality.• Can be accomplished in a few months.

Dependent on availability of requirements, number of applications and their design complexity, extent of data integration needed, and end user (super user) involvement.

Here are some of the highlights and considerations of “Lifting and Shifting” your current Hyperion Planning applications to the cloud:• Investigate Oracle’s “Customer to the Cloud” program.• Pre-built modules (e.g. CapEx, etc.) do not yet port.• May need to change data integration approach.

Shift to simplified, file-based approach.• Regression testing is still needed.• Can be accomplished in weeks.

Again, this is dependent on the number of applications and their complexity, components needing testing (reports, forms, etc.), extent of data integration changes needed and availability of regression test scripts.

RecommendationsAs you consider and/or begin your endeavor with PBCS, here are a few recommendations:• Understand the limitations.• Get multiple subscriptions.

For more than two environments (lower numbers for secondary subscriptions).

• Embrace the simplified integration model with FDMEE. Know that Oracle wants you to succeed; ask for help/ support as much as needed.

• Leverage Oracle’s valuable online content: Tutorials: http://docs.oracle.com/cloud/latest/ pbcs_common/pbcs_tutorials.htm.

Videos: http://docs.oracle.com/cloud/latest/ pbcs_common/pbcs_videos.htm.

Initial Documentation: http://docs.oracle.com/cloud/ latest/pbcs_common/CSPGS.pdf.

ConclusionIn summary, PBCS is a fantastic solution from Oracle and a great option for folks considering a move to the cloud. With robust features and functionality, a large subscription base and the ease of implementing, PBCS gives Hyperion Planning customers and others interested in it a viable deployment option in the cloud.

Finally, special thanks to several folks on the EPM team at AST Corporation for their contributions to this article, as well as Oracle EPM solution consultants, including Kapil Garga.

Patrick Callahan is the vice president of EPM at AST Corporation. Mr. Callahan maintains Oracle Specializations for Oracle EPM, BI and BI Applications, and is active on the Oracle EPM and BI Partner Advisory Councils. His experience is centered in EPM, BI, data warehousing, program management, Oracle Applications and core technologies. He has presented at numerous regional and industry-specific

events, including Oracle OpenWorld, COLLABORATE, Oracle Tech Days and the North Central Oracle Apps User Group (NCOAUG).